You feel obliged to give a disclaimer when you start dating someone new.

“Oh that’s interesting that you go to school. Your family is ok with it?”

When you bring friends home you have to give them a mini orientation about your family’s unusual…rituals.

Baba, can you please stop yelling at the TV, you’re scaring Tiffany!

People assume you’re Muslim by default…

NEWS FLASH: We’re not all Muslim! We’re Christians, Jews, Atheists, and Beliebers. Get it straight.

Your siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins, their spouses, and offspring have the capacity to populate an entire village.

As an Arab girl you get categorized into one of two groups, you’re either a Haifa:

Or a Nancy.

When your grandmother calls – you answer reluctantly.

Hey Teta, I just got a new job!

“If you loved me you’d get married, yalla…I’m going to die soon!”

We share an unspoken language with other Arab women.

A three second gaze can translate to: Yeah we should go soon, I’m down for pizza after. The score is 4-1. They say it’s going to rain tomorrow. Can I borrow that top? Of course I recorded Love & Hip Hop Atlanta.

Your parents typically have nothing nice to say about you…unless it’s to other people.

“My daughter had a full scholarship to study abroad and now she works at the top firm in the state.”

During your college years you had the luxury of using the library as a cover for just about everything.

I hope my mom isn’t reading this.

“Girl, why are you so conservative?”

It’s called class.

You get called awiya for speaking up.

Brains, beauty, and sass. BOOM bitch!

Western media has fooled the world into thinking we’re oppressed.

Don’t believe everything you read, except this post…everything I wrote has been scientifically proven*

Every year, #Muslims observe a month-long fast during the 9th month of the #Islamic calendar: #Ramadan. Muslims believe that this month is filled with blessings, and it is appropriate to wish them well at the beginning of the month. Friendly words in any language are welcome, such as “I hope you have a blessed Ramadan,” or “may you have a peaceful Ramadan.” There are some #traditional or common Arabic greetings that one may use or come across:

“Ramadan Mubarak!”
(“Blessed Ramadan!”)

“Kul ‘am wa enta bi-khair!”
(“May every year find you in good health!”)

At the end of the month, Muslims observe a holiday called Eid al-Fitr (the Festival of Fast-Breaking):

Like this:

RIP #MayaAngelou, the American poet and author, died at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday. She was 86.

Her son, Guy B Johnson, confirmed the news in a statement. He said: “Her family is extremely grateful that her ascension was not belabored by a loss of acuity or comprehension.

“She lived a life as a teacher, activist, artist and human being. She was a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace. The family is appreciative of the time we had with her and we know that she is looking down upon us with love.”

Johnson said Angelou “passed quietly in her home” sometime before 8am on Wednesday.

Bill Clinton, at whose inauguration Angelou read her On the Pulse of the Morning, said in a statement: “America has lost a national treasure, and Hillary and I a beloved friend.”

Angelou’s failing health was reported as recently as Tuesday, when she canceled an appearance honoring her with a Beacon of Life Award because of “health reasons”. The ceremony was part of the 2014 MLB Beacon Award Luncheon, in Houston, Texas, part of Major League Baseball’s Civil Rights Games.

Last month, forced to cancel an appearance at a library in Arkansas, she wrote: “An unexpected ailment put me into the hospital. I will be getting better and the time will come when I can receive another invitation from my state and you will recognize me for I shall be the tall Black lady smiling. I ask you to please keep me in your thoughts, in your conversation and in your prayers.”

Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, in St Louis, Missouri, in 1928. She described in an NPR interview how her brother’s lisp turned Marguerite into Maya.

Share your story: What did Maya Angelou mean to you?
To celebrate the life of one of America’s most influential poets, we’re asking you to tell us how you’ll remember her. Were you lucky enough to meet Angelou? Have a favorite quote? Share your story with us and we’ll feature select contributions on the Guardian

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She survived several personal trials: she was a child of the depression, grew up in the segregated south, survived a childhood rape, gave birth as a teenager, and was, at one time, a prostitute.

She wrote wrote seven autobiographies, including the 1969 memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and was a playwright, director, actor, singer, songwriter and novelist.

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was an indictment of the racial discrimination she experienced during her childhood. “If growing up is painful for the southern black girl,” she wrote, “being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult.”

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings has had a wide appeal, particularly to younger female readers and continues to appear on school and university reading lists in the US and the UK.

In 1993, she read On the Pulse of the Morning at President Clinton’s first inauguration, a performance that made the poem a bestseller. The poem celebrates the diversity of ethnic groups in the US, and calls on the nation to leave behind cynicism and look forward to a new pride in itself, and a new dawn for the country.

Clinton on Wednesday said he would “always be grateful for her electrifying reading … and even more for all the years of friendship that followed.”

Angelou was a long-time Clinton supporter. One month before his inauguration, she told the New York Times: “Since the election, I have found it easier to wake up in the morning,” and “there seems to be a promise in the air.”

And her loyalty to Hillary Clinton has been steadfast, even as Barack Obama campaigned to be America’s first black president.

“I made up my mind 15 years ago that if she ever ran for office I’d be on her wagon. My only difficulty with Senator Obama is that I believe in going out with who I went in with,” she told the Guardian.

JK Rowling called her “utterly amazing”; Lena Dunham thanked Angelou for “your power, your politics, your poetry. We need you more than ever.”

Angelou had lived in North Carolina since the early 1980s, when she became a professor at Wake Forest University, a private liberal arts college. A statement from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem called Angelou “a national treasure whose life and teachings inspired millions around the world”.

The mayor of Winston-Salem, Allen Joines, said the town would probably remember Angelou best for her commitment to health and theatre.

She supported the founder of the National Black Theater Festival in Winston-Salem, and eventually became its first chairperson in 1989. In 2012, the Maya Angelou Women’s Health and Wellness Center opened in the city. A street in Winston-Salem is named after Angelou.

Despite her many accomplishments, the mayor said small moments seemed to touch the poet.

In April 2008, the town threw Angelou an 80th birthday party. Despite entertainers and speakers present at the party, the mayor said, “The thing that seemed to touch her the most was a group of little kids.”